"Philip Jose Farmer - Night of Light" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farmer Phillip Jose)

profound changes and perhaps a crucial break-up in the Church itself.
Though both monks made an effort to keep their intercourse on a polite level, Skelder
had lost his temper once, when they were discussing the possibility of allowing priests to
marryтАФa mere evolution of discipline, rather than doctrine. Thinking of SkelderтАЩs red
face and roaring jeremiads, Carmody had to laugh. He himself had contributed to the
monkтАЩs wrath by pointed comments now and then, hugely enjoying himself,
contemptuous at the same time of a man who could get so concerned over such a thing.
CouldnтАЩt the stupid ass see that life was just a big joke and that the only way to get
through it was to share it with the Joker?
It was funny that the two monks, who hated each otherтАЩs guts, and he, who was
disliked by both of them and who was contemptuous of them, should be together in this
project. тАЬCrime makes strange bedfellows,тАЭ he had once said to Skelder in an effort to
touch off the rage that always smoldered in the manтАЩs bony breast. His comment had
failed of its purpose, for Skelder had icily replied that in this world the Church had to
work with the tools at hand and Carmody, however foul, was the only one available. Nor
did he think it a crime to expose the fraudulency of a false religion.
тАЬLook, Skelder,тАЭ Carmody had said, тАЬyou know that you and Ralloux were jointly
commissioned by the FederationтАЩs Anthropological Society and by your Church to make
a study of the so-called Night of Light on DanteтАЩs Joy and also, if possible, to interview
YessтАФproviding he exists. But youтАЩve taken it on yourself to go further than that. You
want to capture a god, inject him with chalarocheil and make him confess the whole
hoax. Do you think that you wonтАЩt get into trouble when you return to Earth?тАЭ
To which Skelder had replied that he was prepared to face any amount of trouble for
this chance to kill the religion at its roots. The cult of Yess had spread from DanteтАЩs Joy
to many a planet; its parody on the ChurchтАЩs ritual and Sacraments, plus the orgies to
which it gave religious sanction had caused many defections from the ChurchтАЩs fold;
there was the fantastic but true story of the diocese of the planet of Comeonin. The
bishop and every member of his flock, forty thousand, had become apostates and. . .
Remembering this, Carmody smiled again. He wondered what Skelder would say if he
knew how literal his words were about тАЬkilling the religion at its roots.тАЭ John Carmody
had his own interpretation of that. In his coat pocket he carried a True Blue Needlenose
diminutive assassin, .03 caliber, capable of firing one hundred explosive bullets one after
the other before needing a new clip. If Yess was flesh and blood and bone, then flesh
could flower, blood could geyser, bone could splinter, and Yess would have another
chance to rise again from the dead.
HeтАЩd like to see that. If he saw that, then he could believe anything.
Or could he? What if he did believe it? Then what? What difference would it make?
So miracles were wrought? So what? What did that have to do with John Carmody, who
existed outside miracles, who would never rise again from the dead, who was determined,
therefore, to make the most of what little this universe had to offer?
A little of good food, steaks and onions, a little of good Scotch, a little drunkenness so
you could get a little closer but never close enough to the truth that you knew existed just
on the other side of the walls of this hard universe, a little pleasure out of watching the
pains and anxieties of other people and the stupid concerns they had over them when they
could so easily be avoided, a little mockery, your greatest joy, actually, because it was
only by laughing that you could tell the universe that you didnтАЩt careтАФnot a false
mockery, because he did not care, cared nothing for what others seemed to value so
desperatelyтАФa little laughter, and then the big sleep. The last laugh would be had by the
universe, but John Carmody wouldnтАЩt hear it, and so, you might say that he in reality had
the last laugh, and. . .